In 2018, Revolut followed its German rival N26 by launching the Metal plan: a metal-look bank card paired with a paid account.

The fintech also piled on services: savings accounts, card round-ups, buying shares, crypto, commodities and so on, even if it made the product more complicated. It is a strategy that did not work for Lydia, the French payments app, which ended up backtracking before launching Sumeria this year, a product dedicated to the current account.

The offer moved up a notch in mid-2023 with the launch of Ultra, backed by a barrage of press releases picked up by swarms of websites that seized the chance to slip in affiliate links. Every little helps.

At €45 for the first 3 months, then €55 after that (with a one-year commitment), the bank pitches itself at the level of the American Express Platinum. On the menu: a gorgeous, very classy metal card that arrives in a little plexiglass box.

For that price, users get:

• €2,000 / month of fee-free withdrawals;
• A raft of insurance policies;
• 0.1% cashback;
• A few free subscriptions (WeWork, Tinder, Financial Times etc.);
• Airport lounges (via DragonPass);
• 1.49% fees on commodity purchases;
• Fee-free transfers to 150 countries;
• Unlimited exchange in 29 currencies;
• 10 fee-free ETF trades, then 0.12% after that.

All with 24/7 customer service.